This has been one of my pet peeves for years. Actually, not even that... just a constant source of amusement at where Corporate America seems to have gone.

I had an experience with Lowe's yesterday, which carried through today and will continue tomorrow. The details are not important, but the pattern (at least to me) is very noticeable.

Basically, I find it interesting that the highest-paid employees in a company (including the VPs and senior managers) authorize the expenditure of millions on advertising and PR to create positive images of the company, and then they turn around and authorize the lowest-paid employees in the company (generally the ones who deal with the public) to throw those images away by how they treat the customers. It's like one has nothing to do with the other.

Is this what they're teaching people in MBA programs nowadays? The heck with the customer -- just write it off as an expense.

I've noticed repeatedly, when trying to communicate intelligently with an employee or manager, that it's almost like the front-line people are not supposed to (or allowed) bring problems to the attention of the higher-ups. There's no mechanism for that; just deal with it and move on. No learning, no possibility for improvement, no caring, nothing except writing it off.

Anybody else notice this?

Sometimes I feel like getting up on a soap box (gotta be careful -- they're cardboard nowadays) on a street corner and ranting and raving until the TV stations show up. Geez, I even subsbribe to the Harvard Business Review daily updates, and half the time they're lame as ****. There have been some good ones, which is why I continue my subscription, but some of them are so silly it's unreal.

Okay, enough on that.

The way to make money? Well, one way is to spend the least amount possible on the hourly store clerks and customer service people, and you get too high a percentage of workers who want to 'do their time' as easy as possible. Customer service? It seems that many people don't emphasize it.

That said, you will always run into employees who really wants to help, etc.... but the balance isn't where it should be, and/or they are not equipped or trained properly.

I was at the car dealership getting some covered repairs done, and it was all 'Mr' and 'Sir' - how can we help you? And I see the same people there every time I come in. They know their jobs, and have confidence in what they are doing. Too often it is, "I'll happy help you if I don't have to expend much effort or do something I don't know how to do, and if I do have to make an effort, I won't be so happy."

I think part of it is that too many really don't know what they are doing - they don't know HOW they can be of service, and it frustrates them. Too many short-timers who don't know the ins and outs of the store, or stock, or how to find things in the computer system. So many huge stores with huge a huge variety of things....

Somehow this business model took hold in the '80s. Now, as it is clearly in collapse, they took the money and ran. Many still think they can pull it off but that ship has sailed. The resources have all been claimed and the perpetraitors (sp.) are long gone.
It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Amazing how quickly things can turn, and that's something they didn't teach us in school.

On a related note, given the amount of money spent on PR and advertising as George mentions, it amazes me how cheap some outfits can be. Rather than making a customer for life, by generously replacing a product, they make it an ordeal to even find a contact number for customer service.

But when you get good service, it stands out and builds brand loyalty. Order from LL Bean or Lands End over the phone, and you'll never want to shop anywhere else. The quality and quantity of time they must put into their reps' training really shows. Even if their goods are not significantly better on price and quality than some other places I could shop, the customer attention is so worth it for me. I've had reps literally spend hours with me color coordinating shirts and pants! Returns and advice are no hassle, no reason required.

Competing on price is easy and short-term. Building brand loyalty, takes time, but in the end (I hope!) is worth it. Unfortunately, the structure of business right now favors quick short term gain over slower long-term profit.

Training... now there's a key to this whole thing. That and supervision.

Or lack thereof.

But I suppose that if you are allowed to pay so little (while maintaining your sales quota) that you really don't have any choice as to who you hire, you're going to end up with freeloaders as much as with a few people who do want to do the job but don't have any training.

I can be awful when I want to be, and I've actually gotten a few customer-service people on the phone to loosen up and chat a little bit about their "cans and can'ts," and it's amazing how many of them feel like their hands are tied. They're supposed to appease the customer but have no mechanism for sending comments upstairs to help solve the problems that are creating the complaints. Basically, they're limited to lip service.

So I repeat my (rhetorical) question: is this what they're teaching people in MBA programs nowadays?

It's not the people with the MBAs who are the problem. Reaching one of them usually takes more effort than most people are willing to make, however. A little research and a well-placed letter generally do more than the in-store wonk.

What is really bad is when you live in a smaller community, and you have no choice but to patronize poorly run businesses. They know that they don't have to have good customer service to stay in business.

As for Lowes, I used to moonlight at a store in a pretty good sized city. We had "mystery shoppers" come in and rate our level of service. And we had to wear a name badge so they knew who to put on the report. You DID NOT want to have a negative report. Also, when the "help" button was pushed, we were timed as to how quickly before it was shut off. And last but not least, when a customer asked us where a product was at, we were required to "walk" them to it, not point and say "over there". If we didn't know, we were to walk with the customer to a manager and walk with both of them so next time we would know.

I since moved and our local Lowes is the worst! Small community. If you ask an associate where a product is they might say "I don't know" or "I would look over there, maybe it is there" and walk away from you! They know Im not going to drive 65 miles to the next hardware store for a $3.00 part.

Well, I just went back to the Lowe's, spoke w/ the manager, explained the situation (it had to do with mixing a paint color), and said very nicely that we've already spent enough time trying to get it done correctly, and that I'm going to go find a paint store. The funny thing was, I pointed out exactly where the error was this time, and he admitted it.

Now, whether he does go talk to the guy at the paint counter or not, who knows?

Rowdy- I don't like most of the big box hardware stores unless I know exactly what I'm doing or looking for. I've gotten "advice" from someone at Home Depot that could have killed me had I followed it.

Fortunately, we've got an Ace Hardware where customer service is great (and they're expanding, too.) We've also got a good sized lumber yard where they're eager to work with you- both within 5-10 minutes of where I live.

I love a happy ending...

Went to a paint store... they had to scan the color (actually, the young lady who helped me couldn't have been more than 23-24)... mixed it... it was right on the button. And then I got a AAA discount.

AAA, big deal. I get the AARP discount.

I do want to point out one thing - it doesn't necessarily have to do with employers correctly supervising/training their employees, but...

I have often said that when many normal, every-day, home-luvin' people become "customers", they automatically become demon possessed.

Yes...yes they do.

I spent 9 years in a corporate environment. Not a long span, but enough to learn a thing or two.

Our company had ethical guidelines and fancy values that were greatly advertised, posted on the website. The suits were all over the press, giving statements how we are the best and the greatest and all that ****. However, internally the guideline was "its not stupid to ask, its stupid to pay". Means that services were often sold way overpriced-sometimes triple the normal price. Really the customers had no rights.

Of course that attitude started to seep into personnel guidelines over time and in the end it felt like we were being whipped like a racing horse. What originally was a nice place to work became a corporate purgatory and only reason I stayed was the really fat paycheck. It ended of course, in a few months everything was over.

That was 8 months ago. I never wanna go back to something like that again. Now I am stress-free, back in university and going towards my doctorate. Much much happier now.